The Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age from a sediment record of Lake Ebinur, northwest China

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Ma, L., Wu, J., Yu, H., Zeng, H. & Abuduwaili, J. 2011: The Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age from a sediment record of Lake Ebinur, northwest China. Boreas, Vol. 40, pp. 518–524. 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2010.00200.x. ISSN 0300-9483. Lake Ebinur, Xinjiang, northwest China, is a closed-basin, shallow lake that responds rapidly to changes in the ratio of precipitation to evaporation (P/E). A sediment record spanning the last 1500 years was obtained from the lake. We used δ18O and δ13C in bulk carbonate, and δ13C of organic matter in the lake sediments to infer environmental changes in the Ebinur region during the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). Decreased δ18O values of carbonate largely reflect an enhanced P/E ratio within the basin and a higher lake level. Bulk carbonates with higher δ13C values are deposited during periods when lake-water pH is high, while lower δ13C values reflect a lower pH in the water column. δ13C in organic matter is associated with the amount of precipitation. The results indicate that the Ebinur region experienced a dry MWP and a wet LIA, although the MWP and LIA were warm and cold periods, respectively, as expected. Furthermore, the MWP and LIA were hydrologically complex and cannot be characterized as uniformly wet or dry. Peak wet periods are recorded in the sediment core around AD 1000, 1400 and 1700, and a dry event also occurred in the period of temperature change within the LIA (cold to warm around AD 1500). A comparison of the Lake Ebinur data with proxy records for the strength of the Siberian High and climate proxy indicators suggests that precipitation in the Ebinur region was a consequence, in part, of an enhanced Siberian High during the LIA.